The listing or discussion of an apparently prior-published document in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge.
Workers, commuters, children and exercisers may all have to venture outside in low-light conditions for various reasons. However, venturing outside in such conditions can be potentially dangerous because it may be difficult for others (e.g. a driver of a motor vehicle) to distinguish the person when the light levels are low. This can lead to feelings of discomfort, anxiety and danger in the person who has to venture outside.
In order to improve the visibility of people outside, light coloured clothing has been used to help provide observers a greater chance of spotting a person outside in low-light conditions. To help improve visibility further, passive reflective elements in apparel are also often used. Light clothing and passive elements only really help to increase visibility when light from an external visible light source, like street lighting or light from a vehicle's headlamps, strikes the person.
To improve safety for people having to venture outside in low-light conditions, various garments have been developed that contain some sort of lighting device integrated into or onto said garment. However, to date, these lighting devices have suffered from various problems, such as being bulky and uncomfortable to wear, having to remove the lighting device from the garment before washing, lack of shock resistance and a lack of resistance to local (e.g. caused by the body of the wearer) or more general (e.g. the weather) environmental conditions.
Thus, there remains a need for a garment that is more comfortable and useable by an individual who needs to operate in low-light conditions. Further, there is also a need for an easy to maintain garment that does not require significant time to disassemble and reassemble before and after washing, respectively. Yet further, there remains a need for garments that integrate electronic component parts that are thin (e.g. a single layer of fabric), but where the electronic components do not make the garment uncomfortable for the wearer.